The Hunger Games  District 2
by xoClovely
Summary: What would it be like if Cato and Clove one the 74th Hunger Games? If the events at the feast had gone just a little differently? Read to find out! The Hunger Games from Cato and Clove's point of view.
1. Chapter 1

Dear Diary,

It's only two days before the reaping. Here in District 2, everyone around my age is excited. Today, a boy who goes to my school, Cato, is throwing a party at his house because he is planning to volunteer. I'm not afraid to volunteer; I would just rather wait until it's my last year to enter if I was to volunteer at all.

So anyway, Cato lives in a pretty large house, but no larger than mine. Only his backyard opens up into a very large ditch which he shares with his neighbors. It's like a small valley, with steep hills on every side. I don't know him very well, but my brother, Caiden does, and so do some of my close friends.

So, I went. I'm not always the "party girl," but my friends were going, so…I went. It was kind of crowded, because most of the people in our grade were there, and some older (like my brother), but I knew most of the people.

We were all outside, and I went to get myself a drink from the cooler. So then I stood up, and there was Cato, standing right there in front of me.

"I hear you're pretty good with a knife." He says.

I narrow my eyes slightly and look at him, confused. "Yeah, I guess…" I say, because he's right. I'm the best knife-handler out of everyone at our school, and also one of the fastest people, boys and girls included. But I don't know where he's going with this.

He raises an eyebrow and folds his arms. He's quite muscular, and I doubt he'll have too much trouble in the Games. "I'm not sure if I believe it." He says with a little smile.

Now, nothing irks me more than when someone underestimates me. I'm muscular but slender, thanks to years of training. I'm also not exactly short, but I'm shorter than him. I suppose I could see why he wouldn't believe it. But he must know how good I am. Doesn't he? My face hardens. "Get me some knives."

"You've got a temper, don't you?" He laughs. "I'll be right back."

I roll my eyes, but wait there because I want to prove to him that I am the best.

He comes back shortly, clutching five steak knives in his hand. Perfect. "What do you want me to hit?" I ask, sounding almost bored.

"Hmm…" he says. He throws a knife poorly into one of the legs that holds the deck up. "Throw two directly above that knife, and two directly under." He walks towards the knife and shows exactly where; each knife should be about a centimeter apart.

A small crowd has gathered now. I take the knives and step in front of the target, about ten feet away. I squint at the target, and then throw the knives one at a time, no longer than a second apart. They each hit the target in the right place. The people who were watching clap.

Cato stands there, jaw agape, and looks amazed. I smirk. "Close your mouth, it's rude." I say.

He immediately shuts his mouth, and his deep blue eyes widen. "You _are_ good." He smiles. "You gonna volunteer?"

I breath a laugh and shake my head. "No."

"You would be good. I've seen you run, too. You'd have a chance. Why not?"

I just shake my head. "We'll see." I say, and then I ran off to join my friends again.

**Clove**


	2. An Interesting Training

**Clove**

The first thing I feel when I wake up—well, am woken up, is pain. My cheek is stinging, badly. I am about to open my eyes when something hits my face again. I moan in pain and cradle my right cheek with my hands.

"Get up!" A harsh voice commands me. A voice that is all too familiar. I open my eyes to see my trainer, Puck. And his face is just inches from mine. "Get. Up!" He screams in my face.

"I'M UP!" I yell back before pushing him away harshly.

He takes a step back from my bed and folds his muscular arms over his broad chest. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" He asks me.

I sit up in bed. "Why are you in my house?" I ask, ignoring his question.

"I said: Do you have any _idea_ WHAT TIME IT IS!" He says angrily.

I narrow my eyes. "I heard you the first time."

"Why didn't you answer?"

"I was a little confused. Because you're in my house!" I say, exasperated. "Who let you in, anyway?" I ask, knowing that Patch must have already gone to work. He has to go to the hospital early every morning. He works over time almost every day, and we still don't have enough money. Which is why I'm volunteering for the games.

Well, part of the reason. We actually aren't too bad on money. Our parents were murdered in a car accident four years ago. We were pretty well off, almost wealthy, you could say. So we still have some leftover money. It doesn't hurt that my great grandfather was a Hunger Games victor. But we could always use some extra money, because we are both aware that our inheritance could wear out soon. I've always been fascinated with the Hunger Games, and I'm positive I could win.

"I let him in." Patch appears in my doorway, wearing his hospital scrubs.

Oh, Lord. It must be like, the crack of dawn if Patch is still home! "Whyyy?" I moan like a child. I finally look at the clock. It's 4:30. AM. What the hell? Puck made it sound like I slept in for hours. My training sessions usually don't start until 8.

"Great to see you too, darling." Puck says sarcastically. "Meet me downstairs in no less than twenty minutes." He says, his voice harsh again.

When I hear his heavy footsteps going down our wood stairs, I turn to Patch. "Why is my session so early?" I whine.

Patch sighs. "I'm sorry, Clove. Since the reaping is tomorrow, you can't be sore. Puck told me you're going to train extra hard this morning so you can have all day to recover." He comes and gives me a kiss on the forehead. "You'll thank him later. I'll see you when I get home from work!" He says and walks out my door.

I groan and swing my feet onto the cold hardwood floor. I tromp over to my bathroom and stand lifelessly in the hot water of my shower for about five minutes, achieving absolutely no cleansing whatsoever. I sigh and give up on the shower, although it did end up waking me up a bit.

I pull my hair back and get dressed in my usual training outfit—my short shorts and sports bra. The skimpy outfit chills my tan skin, and I shiver, but tromp downstairs to get my breakfast. It's a little intimidating eating my bowl of cereal with Puck sitting there with me, especially since he apparently has nothing else to stare at but my face as I eat my breakfast. At 5:00 on the dot, Puck pulls me out the door and then we're in his car on the way to the gym. It's nice, usually I have to walk there.

When we get to the gym, we do my usual routine. I run on the treadmill for twenty minutes, punch some stuff that Puck holds up for me, do some conditioning exercises that hurt my stomach and legs like hell, run again, and then finally take a water break, only to start again.

As I'm punching a big red thing that Puck is holding up for me, I hear the door open and I glance over a second. And then I become infuriated. No one is supposed to be here! I have _private_ training sessions.

_Especially_ not Cato Bowman.

**Cato**

The look on Clove's face when I walked in was priceless.

But I'm sure mine was just the same.

"What's _he_ doing here?" she hissed at her trainer. Who I then saw was Puck Goldman, one of the best trainers in District 2. I tried to get him, but he was already taken. How did she get him?

"He always has his sessions at 6:30. I made a compromise with his trainer to be here." Puck explained.

Clove shakes her head. "I can't train with him here." She says, glaring at me. She crossed her thin arms over her chest. Until then, I never noticed how muscular she was. Not in that gross kind of way, but in the hot kind of way. She has an eight pack! I never noticed. Well, maybe because every time I see her she actually has a shirt on.

"Which is why we're going into the other room." Puck says, speaking to Clove like she's an animal that could attack her at any minute.

I've talked to Clove here or there, but not too many times. I've never really noticed that she was attractive. With her light brown hair pulled back, her big eyes really stand out. They're a very interesting color, chocolate brown for the most part, but the outsides are a dark grey, almost but not quite black, and there's just a tiny hint of emerald green that is wedged between the brown and grey colors. When they're not narrowed at me, the whites of her eyes don't show, but you could tell they were almost big enough to. She also has full lips, and a naturally tan complexion.

But then the truth suddenly dawns on me as soon as she turns around and stomps into the other room. Clove is planning to volunteer for the Hunger Games, and she didn't tell anybody. Why? I feel a wave of…what? Astonishment? Awe? Respect? Foolishness? A lot of different feelings. But I push them all away as I remember that Clove is my enemy, and it will have to stay that way.

But as I go through my training, I still can't stop thinking of Clove. Well, who knows…maybe we'll be allies. There's always the Career pack, right?

**Hi everyone! I decided to change from the diary format, because i wanted to get a little bit of Cato's POV in there, too. :) Most of the time it will probably be from Clove's point of view, but i'll go to Cato every so often. :) Please review, review, review! Tell me what you think. :)**


	3. The Reaping

**Hi, Everyone! If you didn't notice, Clove's brother's name is officially changed to Patch. I tried editing the first one, but it wouldn't let me! :/ i'm still trying to figure this thing out. But please, review! I love feedback! review review review! :)**

**Clove's POV**

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't want to get up. But then I remembered: It's reaping day.

Then I _really_ didn't want to get up.

Like I said, I am volunteering, but I would rather wait until next year. Unfortunately, I can't. Patch even took the day off of work so he could come say goodbye to me. With a sigh, I get out of bed, shower, brush my teeth, all that stuff. I put on my favorite (and nicest) pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a black strapless baby doll-type shirt and tie it together with my gold gladiator sandals and some gold bangles. I brush my naturally straight hair out and move my side bangs into place, and then I go downstairs to find I have just enough time to eat breakfast.

"You look nice." Patch says, coming down the stairs. Patch is nineteen this year, so he's too old to participate.

"Thanks." I mumble.

After we're finished, we drive over to City Hall in Patch's old car. It's not the best, but at least we have one.

In Districts 1 and 2, they always call the male tributes first. This year, a boy named Achilles Punks was called. He looked about fifteen, but then a bunch of boys rushed to the stage, trying to get to the stage first to volunteer. I saw Cato. He was one of the largest, and he knocked a lot of people out of the way. He leapt up on the stage and said, "My name is Cato Bauman and I volunteer!"

Artie, our host, smiles brightly. "Wonderful!" He says in his annoying capitol accent. Then he puts his white-painted finger nails into the girls bowl.

Panacea Mentilum was called for the girl's tribute. She looked only thirteen, maybe even twelve. I sprinted to the stage, easily outrunning all of the other girls in a second. "My name is Clove Aceso and I volunteer." I say, looking only at Artie.

He smiles and takes each of our hands, holding them up. "Everyone, please congratulate the Hunger Games contestants of District 2, Cato and Clove!"

There's a few claps here and there, and then we are ushered into a room, where we have limited time to say goodbye.

My two best friends come in first, Athena and Iris. They hug me and wish me luck, and tell me they'll see me when I win. Then Patch comes in. I almost start crying, but I know I can't show that kind of weakness, even to Patch. He hugs me all the way until it's time to go. "I'll see you when you get back." Patch whispers. "Try to bring me some food, will ya?" He says with a smile.

I laugh and wave at him. "Bye Patch."

After that, we're escorted onto our trains and shown to our rooms. Since I don't really have any bags to get situated, I just go out and explore the train. A man carrying a tray with crackers and some kind of dip asks If I would like anything, but I tell him I'm not hungry, and I'm not lying.

I wander into a car that has a bar and a few small tables. I see Cato sitting there with his back to me and I'm about to turn my back when Artie comes in. "Clove, will you come here, please? I was just going to look for you." He drawls. What kind of name is Artie, anyway?

I sigh and join them at the table, sitting as far away from Cato as possible. Then, our designers come in, and he introduces us. Epione, the female designer, has long dark hair and large violet eyes. She's only twenty, and she'll be Cato's designer. My designer is named Axel, and he's twenty-one. He's got dark hair and eyes, and he looks really mean on the outside, but he's actually quite nice and funny. It turns out, they're also our mentors. Both of their talents were designing. I have no idea how Axel could have won the Hunger Games now that I know his personality. But I watched—he played innocent, and didn't want to kill anyone when the pack went hunting. Then, when there was one player left, he killed all the careers in their sleep and hunted down the last competitor, who was only fourteen. Then he won.

Epione was fiercer. She always killed her enemies up close, because they would be distracted by the deep purple of her eyes.

I hope no one kills me in my sleep.


	4. Tension on the Train

**Hi, everyone! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I've been busy - last week was my birthday, and i was with family and friends the whole week, and this week we've been getting prepared to go on vacation! We leave in two days, and i decided i wanted to get this up before we left. So, here you go! Sorry for the wait. Enjoy, and tell me what you think, please! ;)**

**Clove**

After we got acquainted with our mentors, I went straight to my room and closed the door. I really didn't want to talk to Cato, Artie, or anyone else. I wish I could have stayed in there for the rest of the night, but I started to get really hungry.

I made my way through the cars and tried to remember where the one with the bar was when I bumped right into Cato. I jumped back, startled.

"Hey." He says.

"Um, hi." I answer back, and try to shove past him. He blocks the way.

"I wanted to talk to you." He tells me, and I feel him staring at my face, trying to catch my eye.

"I didn't." I say plainly, and turn around. He grabs my wrist tightly. I whip my head around and narrow my eyes in my most vicious glare. "Don't touch me." I spit through my teeth.

He looks shocked and almost afraid and drops my wrist immediately, but quickly regains his composure.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you were volunteering?" He asks.

I shrug. "I don't know. I didn't think it was that big of a deal." This is the truth. Why is he freaking out?

He looks angry and shakes his head. "I just think it would've been nice to know."

"Why?" I ask. "Are you scared of me?" I smirk.

He looks flustered, then. "No!"

I raise my eyebrows tauntingly. "Oookaaaay." I gesture behind him. "Can I go now?"

With one last glare, Cato moves out of my way, shoving my shoulder as he walks the opposite way. I roll my eyes to myself and go to sit at the bar. After I order a small meal and finish it, I walk on back into my room. And see Cato in the doorway.

I stop short. "What are you doing in my room?"

He whirls around towards me. "I was…looking for you."

I narrow my eyes and walk towards him. When we're face to face, I say, "Liar."

He narrows his eyes, too. "Why do you say that?"

"I can see it in your face." I say. I'm always good at seeing through lies.

He takes another step toward me, and we're uncomfortably close. "You know, Clove? You're the thickest person I've ever met."

"Good."

"It's kind of hot."

"That's kind of inappropriate."

"Are we about to kiss?"

I step back immediately and throw my right fist at his face. Unfortunately, my bangles make a clamor and he catches my wrist before I hit him. Before I can move my left hand he catches that wrist, too, and brings them together in front of me. His strong grip hurts.

"Why did you do that?" He asks. Can you blame me? How dare he say that!

"Let go of me!" I say angrily, trying to yank my wrists out of his grasp. He's too strong, though.

"Why did you try to punch me?" He asks again. His grip tightens, and my wrists hurt really bad.

I stop struggling and glare at him. Is he kidding? "Seriously?" I spit. "Why would I kiss you? We're competitors, Cato! The Hunger Games is _not_ a place to be _kissing_!"

And then I kick him hard in the shin and twist around, freeing my wrists. I turn around again and push him. He stumbles back.

"Damn." He says, staring at me.

"Go away, Cato." I say flatly, and slam my door in his face.

I finally change out of my reaping clothes, and fold them neatly on my dresser. I change into a pair of silk pajama pants and a tank top and fall into bed. I feel mad, anxious, and afraid to go into the Games, and I don't need Cato making it worse. It's true that we'll team up with the career pack, but I know he certainly isn't my favorite person right now.

I try to get some sleep, but end up staring up at the ceiling, and I start to have dreams even though I'm not asleep.

**Cato**

The way Clove carries herself, you would guess she's already won the Hunger Games. It's so strange; I see her in school sometimes, and she's almost always laughing, smiling, surrounded by friends. But now, she's just turned into this…this…fighter. I don't know what else to call it.

I have to give it to her, Clove is definitely stronger than she looks. But still, not as strong as me. I can't help feeling a little guilty as I wander aimlessly around the train. I know there's no way I could sleep, so why bother staying cooped up in my room?

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe I should've been a little nicer to Clove. And a little less…you know. She'd be a great ally in the Games. I know that she'll still join the pack this year, because it's safest and it's where she belongs. So we'll automatically be on the same side, but it'll be weird if she just doesn't like me. I know we shouldn't get too close, but I don't want her hating me.

I really hope she lets me talk to her tomorrow. I need to know for sure that I have her on my side. As big as I am, I wouldn't want to be on Clove's bad side. She seems like the type that wouldn't hesitate to get rid of someone she doesn't like.

I run into Artie in the hallway. He's super-thin, and around Clove's height, which makes him about half-a-head shorter than me. His hot pink hair is spiked up in a fo-hawk, and he's wearing skin-tight sparkly navy jeans. He has a sparkly white T-shirt and a sparkly black vest on. What a disgrace to men.

"I-I need you to get to bed, Cato." He says in his girly capitol voice. "You wouldn't want to be tired tomorrow!"

I sigh. Knowing I probably can't kill our host, I mope off to bed. I thought I would never fall asleep, but once I got into bed I was almost immediately out. I guess my day was even more tiring than I thought. Oh, I just can't wait for tomorrow...

**P.S. sorry for the incredibly cheesy title. x]**


	5. Scars

**Hi everyone. I just want to apologize in advance - this chapter is my longest yet. I didn't really know where i was going with it when i first started, if you couldn't tell. :) well anyway, _please_ tell me what you guys think! I need more reviews! They make my day. :) Enjoy!**

**Clove**

The next morning I wake up at about 5 AM, which isn't helpful because I couldn't get to sleep until two hours before. Unfortunately, I can't go back to sleep. After lying in bed and staring at the wall for a while, I get bored and decide to go stare at the wall somewhere else.

When I pass Cato's room, I think about hunting down a sharp tool to carve a not very nice message on his door, but I decided against it. It's not really _his_ room, anyway. Today we're getting off the train, and I can't wait. I think I need some space.

I sit on the couch in the dining car. I don't know why, but I realize that I always seem to wind up here. After a few minutes of staring into space, an attendant comes by.

"Trouble sleeping?" she asks nicely. I just nod. "Well, here you go." She takes out a remote and presses a button; a flat screen TV slowly pops out of a hidden compartment that's on the wall. Fancy. "You can watch TV, if you'd like. Do you need anything? Something to drink, or eat?"

I shake my head and smile politely. "No, thank you."

The lady smiles and then walks out of the car. I don't pay much attention to what's on TV, but it gives me something to look at. Some action movie was on. There's a high-speed chase going on, and then the driver crashes into another car, and all of the cars on the road just sort of collide.

My hand automatically goes to my neck. I stroke the scar that's there, starting at my collar bone and going diagonal. It's barely noticeable now, and our medicine could have easily healed it so it was non-existent. But I told Patch that I had wanted to keep it. I often find myself touching the scar when I'm nervous, or sad.

I was in the car crash with my parents when they died. I had just turned thirteen about a week before. We were on our way back from dinner; Patch didn't come, he was at a friend's house. We weren't on a busy road, and it was dark and also pouring rain. We veered off the road, ran into a tree, and the car behind us took the same path. My parents might have been okay, if it wasn't for the other car. The other car slammed into the rear of our car, and it was practically crushed. I had been pushed to the front, in between the two seats. My head bashed into the windshield, and I fell back. I'm not even sure if my parents were alive or dead at this point. Then, because of the force of the other car, the tree broke in half and fell onto our car. It crushed my leg, and glass from the window on top of the car fell in and showered on us.

I was the only survivor out of the crash, including the car behind us. I dug into my mother's purse and finally got out her phone, dialing Patch's number. He didn't answer. I stuffed the phone into my pocket. I had to climb through the passenger side window to get out. I tried waking my parents up, but I soon realized they weren't asleep.

Bloody and broken, I emerged from the car. I was soaked to the bone the minute got outside. I hobbled down the road, leaving a trail of blood behind me. Thankfully, we weren't far from town. I collapsed just outside of town, about ten minutes away from the car. I tried calling Patch again, and he answered that time. All I had said was, "Help, Patch. I'm at the gas station on seven…" and then I had passed out. When I woke up, I was in the hospital, and found out that from the accident I had gotten a broken leg, a broken ankle, serious head trauma, some seriously deep cuts that I still have scars from.

I turn over my left arm and stare at the long, light pink scar that starts at my wrist and goes down to my elbow. I trace my finger across it slowly, thinking about the accident.

Then I feel someone's presence in the room. I turn around quickly and am shocked to see Cato standing right behind the couch, looking over my shoulder.

"What's that from?" he asks quietly.

I look at the TV screen. The movie was over. Then at the clock on the kitchen: 7:06am. I must've fallen asleep while I was thinking about the accident….I sit up and put my arm behind my back, so that he can't see it. "Nothing." I respond.

I had never told anyone but my two best friends about the accident. I didn't want sympathy, I didn't need it. Something changed in my that night. I became stronger, more independent. I didn't go to school until I was out of my cast, I didn't want anyone to sign it or ask about it. I didn't see it as a trophy.

That does _not_ look like nothing." Cato says. He takes my arm out from behind my back and observes.

"It is."

He squints at me. "Why won't you tell me?"

"It's none of your business." I say. It isn't.

"Is it recent?"

"No."

"Why didn't you get it treated?"

"I didn't want to."

Cato sighs. It looks like he's going to say something else, but then Artie comes in, along with Axel and Epione.

"There you kids are!" Artie beams at us, apparently not catching on to our bad mood. He ushers us to a table, where an attendant immediately starts putting food down. "Guess what day it is!" He doesn't pause for us to guess, but that's good because we weren't going to. "Today is the official first day of the seventy-forth hunger games!" He claps excitedly. Axel rolls his eyes. "Hurry and eat, we should be getting off the train soon!"

Artie babbles on throughout the rest of breakfast. I try to block out everything he says. He's talking about how we're just going to _love_ our stylists, blah blah blah, but then he catches my attention when he says my name. "Oooh, Clove, that's a nasty scar!" he says, gesturing to my collarbone. He turns to Epione. "Make sure they get that covered up. Clove, how would you manage to do such an awful thing to yourself?"

I look up and glare at him. All eyes are on me now; on my face and scar. "How did I manage to do this to _myself_?" I ask slowly. "I got in a car accident and watched my parents die, then had to walk home and practically die of blood loss." I regret saying it as soon as I see the look of pity on Artie's face.

Everyone stares at me blankly, especially Artie. "Oh, Clove, I…I'm…." Artie shakes his head.

"Sorry?" I shake my head. "Don't be." I push my chair out and stand up, turning to leave. But when I'm about half way across the room, I turn around and walk back to the table. I glare at everyone for a second, making eye contact with each one, and then I reach for a knife. I grip it tightly in my right hand, keeping it lowered at my side, and I glare at them each again. Then I turn and walk back to my room, feeling their stares on my back.

**Cato**

I watch Clove's light brown hair swish against her back as she walks confidently out of the room. She disappears from sight, and then we all hear a door slide closed.

Artie sighs. "Well. This wasn't how I planned on starting the day…"

"Should someone have stopped her from taking the knife?" Epione asks, her violet eyes looking concerned.

I sigh and push out my chair. "I'll go talk to her."

I knock on Clove's door, but go ahead and open it before she answers. She's sitting cross-legged at the foot of her bed, scraping the knife against the nightstand. She looks up at me, and she looks as evil as the devil.

"Listen, Clove…I'm sorry for everything. For pushing you to tell me about your scars, for being rude. I mean, the games are starting-"

"Forget it." She shakes her head slightly. "I don't care. We need to put this stuff behind us. We're going to be allies, right?" She looks at me expectantly. I must say, I'm pretty damn surprised. I thought it would be tough to get her to forgive me. I just nod. Then she nods, too. "Good. You're right. The Games are starting. Now let's go in and kick some ass."

I chuckle. I'm definitely glad that Clove is my district partner, because I'm pretty sure there's no one in District 2 that's tougher than her. No one.

Well, except me.


	6. I Hate District 12

**Hi everyone! Sorry this chapter is sort of a jumble of events, but i just want to get to the Games already! i feel like it's taking too long. I wanted to get a chapter up today because it's Mockingjay Day! WOOOO! After this, i'm off to the book store to get my copy. Hurray! :D Anyway, PLEASE review! I need to know what you think! Thank you. :)**

**Clove**

Can I just say: Stylists are idiots and I hate them. No offense to any stylists who actually have GOOD ideas. The outfits are retarded. We're wearing white scrubs (way to get creative, guys!) with a "2" on the back of our shirts that looks like it was painted in blood. They thought they were very creative on that one.

I want to get this over with as soon as possible. I'm standing next to Cato in our chariot, and we're about to go out the doors. At least our costumes aren't the worst of the bunch. No, I am not kidding. There are worse costumes out there, so I feel a little better.

Cato's not happy, either. "Can they hurry this damn thing up?" he mumbles as the gates slowly open.

I elbow him. "Just shut up."

"What do you think they would do if I killed the horses?"

I actually smile at this. And Cato smiles, too, because he's been trying to get me to smile all day. I quickly make it go away though, because we're starting to go through the gates. We don't smile or wave; we act very above it all. It doesn't look like the tributes from District 1 are, either.

I'm staring at a lady with tie-dye colored skin and wondering why you would ever think to do that when Cato elbows me slightly.

"Look at twelve." He mutters.

I look up at the screen and feel my eyes widen. Oh my God. The District Twelve tributes are on fire. Literally. Fire is coming off of their clothes. But still, they smile and wave like idiots.

I decide that I hate them.

I look up at Cato with fury in my face. "They're dead." I say. Cato just nods.

After that, the next few days go by in a blur. We collect people for the career pack; Glimmer and Marvel from 1, Cato and I from 2, and Ripple and Dylan from 4. Glimmer is sort of an airhead. Ripple is kind of like me, but…different, of course. She's bigger than me even though she's 16, a year younger, and she has long black hair and bright, big grey eyes. Dylan looks much the same, but his eyes are green and he has freckles dotting his face.

We tried getting a boy named Thresh. He's from District 11, but he's _huge_. Anyway, he declined.

Our interviews come the next day. I'm at least dressed a little better for this. I stay serious for the most part while Ceaser asks me questions, but I have a naturally kind of sarcastic sense of humor that comes naturally, I guess, so I end up getting a few laughs from the audience without meaning to.

But what really annoys me is, once again, District 12. The boy, Peeta—what kind of name is that?—ends up confessing that he's in love with fire girl. And fire girl, who's real name is Katniss, proves to me that she's even more of an airhead than Glimmer. She spins around in a sparkly dress the whole interview.

The next few days of training go by in a blur, and then it's time to show the gamemakers what we can do. So Cato and I are walking down the hallway towards the elevator. We're silent, but when we're inside, he said, "So…Twelve asked to join the pack."

I frown. "The girl?"

"The boy."

"And…what did you tell him?"

"I told him I'd talk to you guys first." He's not looking at me.

"_What_?" I ask, glaring at him, daring him to look into my eyes. "Why didn't you say no? Cato, there's no _way_ he can join!"

"Well, he's big…"

"So what? Who cares? He's stupid!" I can't even come up with a better vocabulary. I am so angry. We start yelling at each other then. Not everything is up to me, I'm not the leader of this pack, I'm retarded, I don't have a brain, blah blah blah.

I realize that the elevator doors have opened now, and Glimmer and Marvel are there, staring at us. "Um…" Marvel says. "What's up?"

Cato sighs and steps out of the elevator, shoving past them. I step out after him.

"What was _that_ all about?" Glimmer asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Cato wants to let the boy from _twelve_ join the pack."

Now Marvel raises an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Cato comes storming back, apparently close enough to hear our conversation. "ARE YOU ALL IDIOTS?" he yells. "Clove, you should be _glad_."

"Why would I be—"

"Because!" Cato cuts me off. "All you do is bitch about the girl from twelve. He can help us! When we find her, we can kill him. _Alright_?"

I think about this. Okay, fine. Whatever. I look up at Cato. "_I _can kill him. After we find her, _I _can kill him."

Glimmer twirls a strand of her curly blond hair around her finger. "I thought he was kind of cute." She says quietly. It's all I can do not to slap her.  
"Don't even think about it, Glim." Marvel says. "He's in love with fire girl, remember?"

I roll my eyes. I don't even want to talk about the interviews. She makes me sick.

In our training session, I do great. I show off all the tricks I can do, including where I can flip and throw a knife at the same time.

Later I find out that I get a ten. A ten! That's actually pretty good! Cato gets a ten, too. We hold the highest scores, even ahead of districts 1 and 4, but then when District 12 comes, my mood is ruined. Fire Girl got an _eleven_. It's like a smack in the face.

"Holy crap!" says Cato. He's looking mad, too.

I throw a knife from the table at the TV screen. It hits Katniss's face but then bounces off, leaving only a small mark.

"Oh, Clove!" Artie cries.

I run straight to my room, more eager than ever for the coming day.

Let the Hunger Games begin, Katniss.


	7. Let the 74th Hunger Games Begin!

**Ok, this is my longest chapter by far. Almost SIX pages on Microsoft Word! :o 3,005 words. Hope it's not too long and boring. Anyway, i finished Mockingjay the day after i got it. AMAZING! You all need to go and read it right now if you haven't read it. It was so shocking, suspensful, and great, as all the books are. :) But it also gave more of a background on District 2, and it said that they're export or whatever is Weapons. :\ so, i messed up. Oh, well. Enjoy! And PLEASE review! :)**

**Clove**

The tube closes around me and I know this is it. My stomach is churning, and I'm shaking slightly from excitement. I stand patiently in my tube, taking deep breaths, and then I feel myself going upward. Slowly, I see the arena. We're in a huge field. In front of me and to my right are woods, to my left a lake. I turn my head, careful not to move my feet off of my plate, and look behind me. It's full of tall grass and weeds, up to my shoulders it looks like. Who knows what could be in there.

I look around me at the other tributes. Diagonally across the circle is Cato. Two plates to my left is Glimmer, and about four to my right is Ripple. I can't see my other allies; they're on the other side of the cornucopia.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Ceaser Flickerman's familiar voice booms out. "Let the seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!" I quickly lock in on a pack of knives. I don't take my eyes off of them. Moments later, the gong rings out, and I sprint straight for the knives. I wrap the pack around my waist and take three in my right hand. I throw and I stab, never missing a target. My weapons supply gradually increases as I go. I turn my head and see a boy cut glimmer along the side of her arm and throw a knife. The boy drops to the ground, and Glimmer gives a slight nod of thanks before sprinting off again. I turn around, and then I see her.

Katniss.

She's fighting with a boy for a backpack. The boy is in my way, so I send a knife whirling into his back. His shoulders shake with a cough, and then he falls onto his knees, then stomach, and I know he's gone. I sprint forward then, pulling two more knives. I see Katniss look up, and when she sees me, a look of horror crosses across her face. I grin, glad that she's afraid of me. Katniss gets up and sprints towards the woods, hiking the backpack up on her shoulder. I throw a knife at her back, but she hikes the pack up and blocks the hit. I curse silently to myself and think about going after her, but I know I have to finish at the cornucopia. I'll get her later.

The next few minutes are a blur. I soon find myself standing, panting, in the sea of dead bodies, and look around to see Cato, Glimmer, Marvel, Ripple, and Lover Boy, too. I forgot about him. No Dylan. I see his body lying close to the cornucopia, dried blood on his shirt. He must've been stabbed. Ripple just shrugs it off. We are about to go through the supplies when I see her. It's a girl, I think from seven, but I can't be sure, escaping into the woods. Unfortunately, she's not that quiet. It seems Ripple heard it, too. We look at each other and then sprint simultaneously into the woods. Like me, she's quiet, and the girl doesn't even hear us until we're three feet away. We each grab one of her arms.

"Come on." I say. "I think the others should know what we're doing."

Ripple smiles and nods, and we drag the girl into the open field. "Nice." Cato says.

I force the girl to her knees. She was thrashing before, and now she's just sobbing. "Thought you could get away?" I ask evilly, a smile on my face. A sob shakes her shoulders.

"Please!" she sobs. "I…just make it quick!"

"Aww," I soothe with fake sympathy. "It's alright. Why don't you just smile a bit?" I ask her. She looks up at me, confused, and I give the arm I'm holding to Ripple. She holds the girl's arm behind her back. I then draw a 'smile' on her face with my knife, a nice red grin. She screams and sobs, and Ripple laughs with me. I get up and walk away, and Ripple slits the girl's throat with her…fish hook? I honestly don't know what it is.

Cato and Marvel high-five me, Peeta looks disgusted, and Glimmer looks a bit green. I notice the cut on her arm is almost gushing. We go through the supplies and sort it out, dividing it up, and find a bandage for Glimmer. We find three pairs of night-vision glasses and I immediately claim a pair. Cato and Ripple claim the others. We fill up canteens in the lake and then sit for a bit, discussing a strategy. We decide to go to the woods first—we all agree the weeds look a bit sketchy.

We walk through the woods deep into the night, but with no luck. Until, _finally_, Glimmer points. "Look!" she cries. "Smoke!"

**Cato**

We arrive at the fire and see the girl sleeping beside it. "Idiot." Clove scoffs. The girl wakes up, then, and starts crying.

"Please!" She begs. "Please, no!" but her begs are cut off when my spear enters her body.

There's high fives all around and then Marvel yells out, "Twelve down and eleven to go!"

We check the girl for supplies but find nothing good. "Well," I say, "We better get out of here so they can get the body before it starts stinking." There are murmurs of agreement, and then we continue forward. All of a sudden Clove stops. I realize a moment later, and then I stop, too. "What?" I ask.

She looks confused, and her head's tilted to the side, like she's listening for something. "Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" she asks.

Glimmer nods, looking thoughtful. "I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately."

"Unless she isn't dead." Clove counters, shooting a glare of accusation my way.

"She's dead." I say firmly. "I stuck her myself."

"Then where's the cannon?" Clove shoots back, getting right in my face.

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done." Ripple says quietly.

"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice." Marvel adds, unhelpfully.

"I said she's dead!" I say harshly. Clove starts arguing with me then, and people randomly throw in some words as well. I know we're being too loud, but I can't help I've been stuck in an arena with a bunch of idiots.

"We're wasting time!" Lover Boy yells suddenly. We all quiet. "I'll go finish her and let's move on!"

Clove narrows her eyes before she turns away from me, and I see the look of annoyance on her face.

"Go on then, Lover Boy." I say. "See for yourself." He thinks he's so high and mighty with his sappy little romance stuff.

When he's out of ear shot, Clove turns to me. "Why can't we just kill him and get it over with?" she whines, desperation in her eyes.

"Let him tag along. What's the harm?" I ask. And just to set her off, I say, "And he's handy with that knife." Clove frowns and narrows her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. She grumbles something about how good with knives he'll be when one of them is in his throat. "Besides, he's our best chance of finding her." I remind Clove. This softens her a little.

"Why?" Glimmer asks. "You think she bought into that sappy romance stuff?"

"She might have. Seemed pretty simpleminded to me." Marvel says with a shrug.

A look of pure hatred mixed with disgust crosses Clove's face. "Ugh." She says. "Every time I think about her spinning around in that dress, I want to puke."

Ripple sighs. "Wish we knew how she got that eleven."

"Bet you Lover Boy knows." Marvel says.

We hear Peeta's noisy footsteps and quiet.

"Was she dead?" I ask.

"No. But she is now." He answers. I see Clove smirking at me from the corner of my eye, but I pretend I don't see it. Sure enough, a cannon fires. "Ready to move on?" We set off at a run just as dawn is beginning to break.

By around what I'm judging to be 6 a.m., I'm trying hard not to laugh as we make our way back to camp. I'm trying to stay professional, I really am, but it's so hard. At least I'm doing better than Marvel, who's practically busted a lung, and Ripple, who tries to conceal her laughs but ends up snorting. Glimmer's just sort of…out of it. She's "tired."

Anyway, it turns out Clove isn't just a mean, violent, killing machine. She's also _very_ snarky and sarcastic. Her natural personality is now shining through, and she's been ripping on Lover Boy for the past hour. And she doesn't even realize why we're all laughing. She just started to ignore our laughter. Peeta keeps his head ducked, trying to ignore her, which makes us laugh more. She takes about a half hour break before she goes at it again, but Peeta really brought it on himself.

Glimmer took an aspirin; she got pretty beat up during the bloodbath, but I still don't appreciate her wasting our medicine. Anyway, then Peeta asks, "What is that? Do we all need one?"

Glimmer just snickers and ignores him. Clove stops walking, tough, and stares at Peeta. "_Really_?" She asks. "Are you _serious_?" She scoffs. Clove shakes her head. "I swear to God, Bread Boy. What do they _teach_ you in that hellhole of a district? It's _aspirin._ I'm pretty sure every person on the planet knew that. I bet even that crippled kid from ten knew that." She exhales sharply. "_Seriously_." She then rants on again about how lame and stupid Peeta is.

Finally we get back to camp, and Clove offers to take first watch. She sits down in the dirt with her legs crossed, and then she starts to doodle in the dirt with her knife. She's cut the fingers off of her black gloves, and I don't know why she's even wearing them. Oh, well. I watch her knife tracing circles in the dirt, trying to fall asleep. This strikes up a memory though, and I realize I would like to know what happened.

So I sit up, and Clove's head snaps up, her right arm going up. I hold my palms up. "Relax." I say. Her shoulders slump again and she continues doodling.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

I shrug. "Why aren't you tired?"

She shrugs, too. "I have a bad habit of staying up late. A tiny case of insomnia, I guess." I nod. A person from another district probably wouldn't recognize this term, but with our district being the medical producers, I instantly recognize the word.

I then bring up what I was curious about for years. When we were thirteen, in eighth grade, we were in the middle of class. We were taking our biggest test of the year, a big huge test of questions regarding all about what we do in District 2: medicine. I was in the same class as Clove that year. We were in the middle of the test when the door burst open. Everyone was shocked, because no one came in when we were testing. There was a big red sign on the outside of the door that said "Do Not Disturb."

Two large men came in, dressed in Force uniforms. The Force is District 2's police force. They deal with rebels, violence—basically, cooler than the Peacekeepers. Our teacher stood up, then. "We're here for Clove." One of the big men spoke gruffly. All heads turned in shock to where Clove sat in the middle of the room, but she didn't look shocked or scared. She got up silently and walked over to the men. The teacher nodded that it was okay for her to go, although I'm sure they would've taken her whether the teacher gave the okay or not. Everyone was curious as to why they got Clove. She didn't come back to school for three days. People asked her only a few questions, but she didn't answer any of them. Everyone just shrugged it off, forgetting about it. But I was always curious.

"Remember that day in eighth grade, when The Force officers came in and got you? What was that for? Where did you go?"

Clove stares into the distance, remembering the day.

**Clove**

I take a deep breath. Telling Cato this would tell him almost everything, so I had to limit the story.

That was during the time I was living with Puck. Puck was a family friend for a long time, he was part of The Force with my dad. When my dad died, Puck took me in, telling me exactly, "You'll train every day. Do what I say. I don't deal with teenage bullshit." He trained me hard, and when he saw how good I was with a knife, he told me he would take me on a mission with The Force. So, he did.

He took me out in the middle of school along with Brazer, another man on The Force. We waited until nightfall. We were targeting a major rebel force, one that was planning to take out a hospital in the morning. Then, we burst into the building. It was a large abandoned building, a small hospital a long, long time ago. I held a knife in each time, and we all split up. Puck had told me to call if I needed anything.

My flashlight was attached to my belt, sending a wide beam of light down the darkened hallways. The only sound I could hear was my breath; not even my footsteps in the black combat boots I wore. I went through the hallways, kicking open doors, and finding nobody at first. Then, in a room at the end of the hallway, I found three people. A boy my age and two woman who looked in their mid-thirties. They were huddled together on a bed, no immediate threat. I straightened up.

The woman was about to scream. "Open your mouth and your dead." I said quietly but harshly. She immediately shut her lips, silent tears streaming down her face. She cradled the boy in her arms.

"Please." The other woman whispered. "We…we weren't helping them."

"Then why are you here?" I countered.

She can't come up with an explanation. That's when I know for sure she's lying. I whipped a knife at the boy, the metal whistling through the silent air. The woman holding him screamed as the knife hit the boy's chest. I pull two more knives, but it's too late. She's attracted attention, more people are coming. I quickly kill the two others and turn around. Two people advancing on me. I throw two knives at them in one throw and the fall onto the white ceramic, dead. I pull the knives out of their chests just in time to stab another person coming down the hall. But then there's more, and I'm killing and killing, but my knives are dwindling. When I'm down to three, I can't help it. "PUCK!" I screamed, cutting random people at random spots because I'm caught in a haze of confusion. I see a man with a gun emerging from a closet in the room to my right. A gasp gets caught in my throat, and I break into a sprint. I escape quickly because I'm fast as the wind. "PUCK!" I scream again.

I sprint down the stairs, and my flashlight drops and goes out. I can't find anyone. I yell out names I can remember as I dash around blindly through the hospital, and then I run into someone. I pull my knife, but then a flashlight shines on me and Puck is there. He sees my widened eyes, notices my heavy breathing. "Where are there?" he asks. I can't even remember where I came from, but I just point up the stairs. We go up there together, and meet the people just above the stairs. Apparently they were pursuing me. Together, though, we kill every last person, and then meet up outside with the rest of the people, and they confirm everyone is dead.

Brazer comes out last; he did one last sweep through the building. "Clove?" he calls. I step out in front of him. "You said everyone you killed was on the top floor?" I just nod in response. He raises an eyebrow. "By yourself." I nod again, confused. "Clove, that means you killed thirty-three people."

I gasped. I had never even killed one person, let alone thirty-three! I felt so great. Puck was so proud of me, and I got to see him smile. Everyone hugged me, patted me on the back, and then Puck said. "Well, I guess we've got a new member of The Force." He actually grinned, then, ear to ear. Everyone clapped. I had never felt better. From that day on, he always told me, "If you can kill thirty-three people, you can kill twenty-three tributes."

I told this whole story to Cato. When I was finished, he stared at me in awe. "…Wow." He said, then breathed out a nervous laugh. "Just…wow. So you're…you're a member of The Force?"

I nod sheepishly.

He smiles. "Badass!"

I roll my eyes. "Go to sleep, Cato."

"Okay, whatever." He says, and lays down. Within seconds, he's snoring.

Maybe it was for the better that I told him about my past. Another reason for him to be afraid of me.

**The whole part with the girl by the fire is Suzanne Collins all the way. I just wrote it as is. So no one sue me! ;) Remember: Reviews make my day! **


	8. I'm screwed

**Clove**

We've been hunting all day. It's been pretty quiet, but I killed that disabled boy from ten about an hour ago. It was kind of funny. He just tried to wobble away. I'm surprised he lasted this long.

We decide to all sit down to rest by a clump of trees. We eat a bit and drink, and then all of a sudden Glimmer, who is sitting across from me, spits out her water and coughs, pointing straight behind me. I whirl around to see, in the far off distance, a huge wall of fire coming towards us. We all scramble to our feet and stuff what we have in our packs as quickly as we can, but the fire is coming fast. I sprint ahead, not even looking to see if anyone's following me. A bit to my right I see Marvel dashing through the trees, but that's all.

It seems as though I'm running for hours. My legs become numb and my instincts take over, I'm not even thinking anymore. I jump and duck and roll when necessary, but eventually I trip. The feeling floods back into my legs, and I feel pain. I turn to look and see a big, long gash on my left calf. I must've scraped it on a tree. I lay there for a minute, breathing heavy, but then I hear a hiss. A tree next to me goes up in flames, and I jump to my feet, startled. I lose hold of my knife, but I keep running.

A fireball hits my left arm and my lower back, but I pat it out and continue on. Finally, _finally_, the wall stops coming and the fireballs stop. It must've been the end of that attack area. I collapse onto the ground, panting, and slowly drink my whole canteen of water. After what must have been twenty minutes at least, I get up and limp forward. "Cato?" I call, but I have to repeat it because the smoke has made my voice raspy and my words are barely understandable. "Glimmer?" I shout, my voice a little stronger now.

"Clove?" I hear Glimmer's light voice.

"Where is everybody?" Marvel's voice.

"Everybody come here!" Cato comes in now. I move towards his voice.

"Where?" I hear Ripple shout.

"Here!" Cato yells louder.

Five minutes later, we're all surrounding a big tree in a muddy area. Everyone else looks beat up, too.

"Do you wanna head back to camp?" Marvel asks everyone. There are mumbled replies and we all head in the direction that I hope is camp.

"Wait!" I hold my hand out to stop Cato, who was walking next to me.

"What?" he asks, sounding annoyed.

Footprints. There are footprints in the mud, and they're very fresh. I point to them with one hand and bring my other hand to my mouth, pressing my pointer finger against my lips, indicating for them to be quiet.

I walked ahead of the group, pulling a knife from my jacket. I smiled when I saw the long, dark braid resting against the backpack. I sprint towards her, but it seems like she heard us coming. She gets up and sprints away. She's fast, maybe even a little faster than me. But I know I can catch up to her.

I stop short at the foot of a large tree, and the others come two seconds behind me. She's climbing _up_ the tree. Weirdo.

"How's everything with you?" she calls down cheerfully. I hate her. I try to make this clear by the horrible glare I'm shooting at her face.

Cato answers her. "…Um, well enough." He says. "Yourself?"

"It's been a bit warm for my taste." Oh, I bet she thinks she's oh so clever. "But the air is much nicer up here. Why don't you come up?"

"Think I will." Cato says. Oh God. Cato will never make it up that tree, and Katniss and I both know it.

"Here Cato, take this." Glimmer says, offering Cato the arrows. But he pushes her away, saying he'll do better with his sword.

Katniss begins to climb higher, and I have no idea how she does it. But sure enough, a branch breaks under Cato's foot and he's sent plummeting back down, right at my feet.

"How's it goin?" I joke.

"Shut up, Clove." He mumbles, rubbing his neck.

I laugh at him struggling to get off the ground. I can't believe he actually fell out of the tree. Dumbass.

I notice Katniss staring right behind me. I turn around to find Peeta. "Hey, Lover Boy." I say. He flinches, which makes me laugh. "It's _your_ girlfriend. I say you go get her."

Peeta looks flustered. "Um…."

I act like I'm going to punch him, but stop my fist right before it hits his face. He flinches and stumbles backward, and I burst out laughing.

Marvel slaps my shoulder. I turn to him. "Not now, Clove." He says. I notice that Katniss is staring at me with her eyes narrowed. I smirk up at her.

"Guys?" Glimmer asks. She tried climbing up, but didn't make it. She's sitting on the first branch, which is about five feet off the ground. "Um, I can't get down."

I roll my eyes. "Jump."

Glimmer closes her eyes tightly and then lands lightly on the ground with a little squeak. A little bit of her long, curly blond hair has been singed off, and her sweatshirt has been completely ruined, so she only has the green undershirt. She tries to redeem her lame attempt of climbing the tree by shooting an arrow at Katniss, but not does the arrow only miss Katniss, it lodges itself into a whole different tree. I'm about to point out her failure when Katniss takes the arrow out and waves it tauntingly above us. I'm about to yell some not nice things to her when Lover Boy pipes up.

"Oh, let her stay up there!" he says angrily. "It's not like she can stay in that tree forever. She's got to come down sometime. We'll deal with her in the morning." As much as I hate to admit it, he's actually right about something. So, we all decide to set up camp at the base of the tree, and Glimmer offers to take first watch.

The temperature is decreasing quickly, and Glimmer doesn't hesitate to snuggle up her sleeping bag next to mine. Really? Couldn't she go somewhere else? I'm about to shove her away but I decide against it. I guess I could do _one_ nice thing. Besides, she doesn't even have a sweatshirt. She smiles her dazzling smile at me when I don't resist, and I make a face up at her, which just makes her laugh. I guess she's not so bad.

The sky lights up and the anthem comes on. There were no deaths today, except for the boy I killed from ten. I smile at the memory. Pathetic.

I quickly fall asleep in my warm sleeping bag, shockingly in a relatively good mood. I killed someone today, Katniss is being held hostage above me, and Glimmer may actually become my friend now that I've realized she's not a _total_ retard. I would say it was an okay day.

**Cato**

I wake to the sound of Clove's voice screaming, "To the lake, to the lake!" When I open my eyes, still groggy from sleep, everyone is scrambling and I see very large bees swarming about. Tracker Jackers. I get up and follow Clove to the lake, sprinting as fast as I can while still half asleep. "Help!" I hear a shriek, and I think it's Glimmer. But I don't stop, of course, no one does. I run blindly through the trees, sharp pains jabbing me in different places all over my body. I immerse myself into the lake after Clove and Marvel, but I don't see anyone else. I can barley see anything, actually, everything is so confusing and foggy. But I get out of the water once the bugs are gone, and I hear a cannon fire, and then another.

I drag myself out of the water and run back to the woods, brandishing my sword. I see Katniss, hunched over Glimmer's dead body, and I also see Lover Boy, shooing her away, telling her to run. That bastard! I step forward and stumble, but still manage to cut him deeply in the leg. He yelps in pain, and manages to limp away a few feet, but I can't pursue him anyway. The venom is working its way through me. Trees are exploding like fireworks, disappearing into nothing. My sword is slipping through my fingers, which have holes in them. Fire red ants come out of the sword handle. Is this real? I can't even tell. I stumble backwards and fall to the ground, and it's only about a minute until I pass out.

My nightmares are filled with horrible things. I feel so much pain. The only person I really, truly love in this world appears multiple times—my thirteen year old sister, Phoenix. She dies so many different ways, and it drives me nuts. I want to help her, but every time I get close she recedes. It's like a never ending nightmare.

When I wake, I can't tell how long I've been out. My clothes are damp, so I think it rained. It looks about dawn right now, but the day is foggy and overcast. I rub my eyes and stretch, which is extremely painful. I get up, though, because showing weakness is failure. My motivation is renewed; I'm even more determined to find the bastards of District 12.

I drag myself out of the woods, and it takes a while even though I'm only a few feet in. When I get to the flat, dirt surface and I see the shining cornucopia, I start to wonder who is alive. It's a surprise that I didn't die from the venom—I sure as hell feel half dead.

I see Clove and Marvel lying awkwardly by the lake. Clove is curled up in the fetal position in the dirt; her dark blond hair is streaked with blood and dirt. Marvel is sprawled out a few feet away from Clove, with half of himself in the water and half out. His legs are in the water, but he's lying on his back and his arms are stretched out on either side of him. I'm guessing they're still under the spell of the venom.

I make my way over to all the bins of our food and pull out some crackers. I must've been out for a while—I'm starving. I tread lightly over to the lake to fill my canteen, and when I come within a foot of clove, she pops up into a standing position so suddenly it makes me jump. She's gripping a knife tightly in her right hand, and her big eyes are darting around wildly. Okay, she frickin' jumped up from the fetal position after being stung by tracker jackers. How did she do that? My limbs hurt from just taking each slow step.

"Who's there?" she murmurs, and then she takes a step forward but ends up falling flat on her face. I'm worried for a moment that she's going crazy, but then she rolls onto her back and presses her palms into her eyes. "Ugh." She groans. "Tracker jackers suck _ass_!" she exclaims.

"No, District Twelve sucks ass." Marvel corrects. I turn and see him limping towards us. "Are we all that's left?" he asks, his green eyes flickering between Clove and I.

Clove sits up. "I guess." A shadow crosses over her face then, and the same with Marvel. I know they're thinking of Glimmer; Clove was actually starting to like her.

"Well…" I sigh. "We're one step closer."

Neither of them respond. We replenish ourselves silently, gaining back our strength. Clove and Marvel start bickering about something, but I don't even pay attention. Clove always tries to pick a fight somehow. I turn around and walk to go put the box of crackers I took out away, but I'm not even half way there when I hear a loud _thump._ I turn around and see Clove on her knees, one hand wrapped around her stomach and one over her mouth. All of a sudden, she's coughing up blood. Marvel stands above her, his lip bloody. I'm guessing he's not the one who threw the first punch, but still.

"Damn it, you people!" I say angrily, dropping the crackers and walking towards where they are. "Can I not turn around for one second!"

Marvel glares at me. "She started it." He snorts. Clove, who is still spitting out leftover blood, looks up at Marvel and gives him the most horrible glare.

"I don't fricking care who started it!" I shout. "How are we supposed to find and kill Twelve when you two idiots are killing each other? We're all that's left, so I suggest you clean up your damn act, or we're all going to die."

Clove gets up then, and she coughs once more and then turns and spits out more blood. She grimaces, and then looks at Marvel. "I see how it is. Why don't we just get it over with now, Marvel?" She says, completely ignoring what I just said.

"Fine by me, bitch." Marvel shoots back, taking out a spear. Clove opens her jacket and takes out three knives, holding two in her right hand and one in her left.

"No!" I say harshly, stepping in between them. "Stop it!"

"Get out of the way, Cato." Clove snarls at me.

I turn to her. "_No_. You need to stop fighting, alright? What is this about, anyway?"

Clove crosses her arms over her chest and sighs, ignoring me. I turn to Marvel. His face fills with remorse. "Glimmer."

This takes me aback. "What about her? What does she have to do with anything that just happened?"

"Well Clove, being her usual stupid, Clove-y self, said she thinks it was better that Glimmer died anyway. And then I said, 'Why would you say that? She was my girlfriend, you know.' And then Clove said," he changes his voice to a higher pitch in a bad imitation of Clove, " 'Well, that explains why you're both equally stupid. I mean, she fell asleep on watch. It's her own fault she's dead.' So then I said—"

"Okay, shut up. I regret asking." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Oh no, I'm going to finish." Marvel says. "So anyway, then I said, 'well, it's about to be my fault that you're dead.' And then she got up and punched me, so I kneed her in the stomach and punched her back."

I sigh. Clove is about to say something else, but I hold up a hand to stop her. "How are any of us going to survive if you two are fighting like children?" I feel like an idiot parent around these jackasses. "Now, shake hands."

Clove turns to look at me again, her eyes narrowed in disgust. "That's stupid, Cato."

"I don't care. I'm the leader of this pack, and I say do it."

Clove raises her eyebrows. "Oh, _you're_ the leader? Who says?"

Another argument breaks out, and I have to hush them again. "You know what? I don't care. Just shake each other's God damn hands so we can move on. Alright?"

Clove sighs and rolls her eyes, but they come together and shake hands. I can tell their grips are too tight. Then, before they let go, Clove yanks Marvel closer and knees him hard in the stomach, and he doubles over. Clove bursts out laughing. "_Now_ we're even." She wipes her hands together as if completing a day's hard work and then saunters away toward the food bins. Marvel just mutters a muffled curse in her direction.

I'm screwed.


	9. She Is So Dead

**So I was just listening to music the other day (shocker), and I think "Run This Town" by Rihanna and Jay Z is a pretty good theme song for the careers. At least, most of it. I thought of them while I was listening. What do you think?**

**Clove**

I'm guessing it's around midnight. I'm going to have to wake Cato up soon, I'm getting tired. I wish I hadn't volunteered for first watch.

The tracker jackers were horrible, and I never want to experience any pain like that every again. The venom showed me horrible, horrible things, and I'm horribly stiff though I'm trying to ignore it.

I'm sitting cross-legged on top of a crate, my back to the lake, watching Cato and Marvel snore when I hear a twig snap to my left. I'm on my feet in a second, my arm muscles tensing, ready to throw. My eyes sweep the vast space, and I'm about to sit back down when I see him.

The boy from 3. He's standing at the edge of the forest line, hesitating. He's short and scrawny, and has a bit of a hunchback. Nerd. I'm about to throw when he holds up his hands, which are empty of weapons. It doesn't look like he has anything, actually. "Wait!" he says, recoiling just a little.

I think about walking towards him, but I'm worried it could be a trap. So I keep my knife extended in front of me and tilt my head to where I'm standing. "Come over here." I say. He walks slowly forward, hands still up in surrender, until he's about five feet away from me. "What do you want?" I ask.

"I-I…I want to join your pack." He studders.

I snort. "Yeah, like that would happen. Seriously, is that all?"

"Wait!" he says again. "I have a proposition for you."

I narrow my eyes, but since this kid doesn't seem like much of a threat, I lower my arm and cross my arms over my chest. "Oh, yeah? What is this proposition?"

He takes in a nervous breath, and I can tell I intimidate him. Good. "I can help you. You know the girl from five?" he asks.

I frown, thinking. "Um, no. I don't have time to memorize all of you losers. But anyway, what about her?"

He sighs. "Well, I saw her taking food from you yesterday. I can help you protect your supplies."

I narrow my eyes. Oh, was she? I think I'll keep a special eye out for her. "Hold on. I'm going to wake the others."

I can tell he doesn't look too happy about this, but he doesn't say anything. I walk over and shake Cato on the shoulder until his eyes open. Then I step over him and decide that because Marvel has decided to be a snarky bastard lately, he could wake up differently. I laugh to myself, because even in these Games I can make fun out of something. Cato sits up and watches me as I drag Marvel's sleeping bag to the edge of the lake, then kick him in. Cato laughs and I burst into hysterics, and Marvel comes up swearing. "DAMN IT, CLOVE!" he yells.

"Shhhh!" I warn him. He glares at me and shoves my shoulder before walking away, shaking the water out of his hair like a dog.

Apparently, no one noticed the boy from 3 until now. I explain to them that he has a "proposition" for us. So then the boy, who tells us his name is Mac, goes into this whole plan about how he can help us protect our supplies. The plan is actually good, I must admit, but we all agree to wait until morning to do it.

After breakfast the next morning, instead of going hunting like usual, we're all digging up the ground to get to the mine plates. Mac says that he can reactivate them somehow with his nerdy District 3 ways, so we decide to listen to him. The first thing we do is stack up all of our supplies in the middle and tie it tightly together with a rope. The whole digging process takes about an hour, and it's really tiring. But Mac gets the wiring done quickly, and he shows us how to get to the supplies without getting blown up. At the end, we decide to let him live.

About an hour later, Marvel points into the forest. "Smoke!"

He's right. There's smoke not too far away into the forest. Who could be so stupid? There's literally smoke _billowing_ up into the sky. I swear, everyone in this arena are idiots. We load up our supplies and run towards the forest.

"Come on, Mac!" Cato calls over his shoulder. I stop short. There's no way that nerd is coming with.

"He's not coming, Cato." I say firmly, and him and Marvel stop running, too.

"Yes he is, Clove."

"Who's gonna guard the supplies?"

"It doesn't need guarding. Mac said it was finished. Isn't it, Mac?"

"Well, I, um, yes—" Mac babbles.

"Good. Then let's go."

I sigh but follow, sprinting on into the woods. I hear Mac stumbling behind me, his clumsy feet getting caught on branches and dips in the ground. When we get to the fire, though, there's no one there.

"What the…?" Cato looks baffled. Then, in the distance, another column of smoke bursts up. I'm starting to think this a little weird.

"Cato, we need to get back to camp." I say. "It's a trap." But he ignores me and keeps running, so I have no choice but to run after him. "Cato, no one is gonna be there!" I shout after him, but he just tells me to shut up.

Sure enough, when we get there, the fire is empty. "What the hell!" Cato says angrily, kicking a log aside.

"I _told_ you!" I say, stepping forward and pushing him. "It's a trick! It's Katniss! I know it! We need to get back to camp, _now_."

He's about to argue with me when there's an explosion so loud and so forceful that my feet are knocked out from underneath me. It goes on for a few more seconds, and I cover my ears until the ground stops shaking. When it's over, we all look at each other for a moment. Then, we sprint back to camp without a word.

**Cato**

When we break through the forest to where our camp once was, all I see is rubble. Rubble, and smoking ground. No bins, no food, no supplies.

Oh. My. God.

Clove stumbles forward with her arms extended hopelessly, and she falls to her knees. "My knives!" she cries.

"Don't you have all of them in your jacket?" Marvel manages to say.

Clove shakes her head. "No. Well, most of them, but…" she trails off with a look of desperation on her face.

And then, I just explode. I throw my spear to the ground, and I kick the ground, swearing and yelling like I've never done before. Clove and Marvel look at me like I'm crazy, and maybe I am. But can you blame me? We have no food. Half of our weapons are gone. We only have what we brought in our packs.

And then I realize: it's Mac's fault. His trap worked the wrong way. He must realize this, too, because he turns to run but I catch him in a headlock and with all my force I yank his head to the side and he drops to the ground. His cannon fires instantly.

"Cato." Clove puts her hands on my shoulders, and I'm so mad I barely hear her at first, but I look at her. Her big eyes are widened, and she's looking at me cautiously. "Chill out." She points to the sky. "Whoever did this—they're dead."

She's right. There's no way the bomber survived this. This calms me down a little, and then Marvel says that we should leave so they can get Mac's body. We cross over to the lake and sit, just sit there and wait for the anthem to see who the bastard who blew our supplies was. Soon, the anthem lights up the sky.

And then it goes dark.

There were no deaths today.

"What the hell?" Clove says angrily, getting to her feet.

"It was Katniss." I say. "I know it."

"Well, come on then." Marvel says, getting up. "Let's go get her."

Clove and I slip on our night-vision glasses and Marvel lights a torch. "When we find her, I kill her in my own way, and no one interferes." I say sternly.

It looks like Clove is going to say something, but she thinks twice and shuts her mouth, looking disappointed. But I don't care. I want that bitch dead, and I'm going to kill her myself.


	10. Rules Shmules

**Hi everyone! so sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER, I know I've been horrible! ****I've just been so busy lately. Im really trying to get stuff up for you guys, though, so I really hope you like it. **

**Clove**

We hunted all through the night and found nothing. Katniss must have gotten a bigger lead on us then we thought.

Anyway, now it's morning, and none of us are in a very pleasant mood. I'm still pissed, Cato's still _really_ pissed, and Marvel is just…well, Marvel's just Marvel, putting everyone in an even worse mood than we're already in.

So, we decide that we'd split up for a bit. Marvel takes the left side of the woods, I go through the middle, and Cato takes the far right. Now I'm walking through the fallen branches on the forest floor carefully, placing my feet expertly as not to make any noise. I've been hunting about an hour in complete silence when all of a sudden I hear a scream. The sound makes me jump.

I turn my head in the direction of the noise—to my left. Did Marvel get her? No, the scream was too high-pitched to be Katniss. But there's no cannon, and the screams continue on. I can't really make out what they're saying. But then I hear someone answer to the scream.

"RUE!"

I freeze. The second voice is Katniss, and by the sounds of it she's no more than a mile away from me. A smile spreads across my face and I sprint in the direction of the sound, the sound of the girl crying. A few seconds later, though, a cannon fires. Who was that? Rue? Katniss? Marvel? I run faster.

I want desperately to know where she is, but I'm lost. In my haste I paid no attention to the direction I was going, and now the noise has stopped. I stop and take a few deep breaths, listening intently for another sound. There is none.

_BOOM!_

Another cannon fires. All I can do is look up. The hovercraft comes down and picks up a small, tiny figure. That must be Rue. I recognize her dark skin immediately. And then the claw comes down and picks up another figure.

And it's not Katniss.

It's Marvel.

I start running again in the direction I hope they were in. After a few minutes, I come to a tree. One of Marvel's nets is on the ground, and there's a flattened patch of grass, like someone laid there for a while. But there's not a person in sight.

I sigh and sit down on the grass, leaning my head back against the tree. I need to think about what just happened. I knew Katniss had an ally, because how else would she set the fires and blow our supplies? But I didn't know it was the kid from eleven. That doesn't even make sense. I thought it would be that weird red-headed girl, or maybe even Lover Boy if he hasn't kicked the bucket yet. I'm just so confused. People are so stupid.

But I can't look confused. Confusion and stupidity don't get you sponsors. Not that I don't have any, but still. I get up and decide to walk back to camp, because I'm incredibly tired.

The sun is setting, and dusk falls over the arena, playing tricks on my tired eyes. The shadows seem to move, and I keep thinking there's someone behind me, but I shake it off. I can't help but thinking, as I walk back to camp, that I'll probably have to leave soon. After all, it's only Cato and I now. There's only six of us left. And I plan on killing five more people before I go home.

It's dark by the time I get back to camp. Cato's already there, eating as always, and he stands up when he sees me. "Well. I guess you didn't die." He says.

I make a face at him. "Oh, shut up. You knew that I was alive."

He just goes back to eating, and I reach into my pack to have a few crackers as well. Our food supply is dwindling rapidly, and I'm starting to get worried.

The sky lights up then, and Marvel's face flashes, followed by Rue, and then the sky goes black. But it's not silence that follows, it's trumpets. I perk up at the sound—trumpets mean feasts. And feasts mean deaths.

Sure enough, Claudius Templesmith's voice booms out through the invisible speakers. "Greetings and congratulations to the six of you who remain!" he says cheerfully. Then he announces that there's a rule change. I feel my jaw drop. There's _never_ a rule change. There's actually only one rule; not to step off your plate until the sixty seconds is up, and the kind of made up rule about not eating each other. But then what he says next is truly amazing.

"Under the new rule, both tributes from the same district will be declared winners if they are the last two alive."

**Cato**

I know my face is a mirror of the confusion that's on Clove's. Claudius repeats the new rule again, and then wishes us all good luck. And then he's gone.

We both sit there for seconds in silence, taking it all in. I look to Clove, who is seemingly staring off into space, but then I watch her expression change. Her eyes widen and she turns her head to look at me, a smile spreading across her face. I feel myself smile, too. Clove laughs, and I think it's the first time I've heard her laugh without someone being in pain. She opens her mouth to say something, then closes it, then opens it again only to laugh once more. She seems at a loss for words.

I finally say, "I guess I won't have to kill you now."

Clove laughs again and rolls her eyes. "Like it would have happened anyway!" she stands up and I do the same. "Do you realize something? Now that we don't have to worry about killing each other…we're unstoppable, Cato. We are _so_ going to win this!" She high-fives me and then we both hear it, as clear as day.

"PEETA!" The tell-tale voice screams.

Clove's smile of joy morphs into one of victory, the smile I see when she kills someone. The smile makes her look truly scary, and honestly, I'm glad I won't have to fight her.

We both put on our night-vision glasses and walk into the woods. I hold my spear, the only one I have left, in my right hand, and slip my sword through my belt loop. Clove takes two knives out of her jacket. I don't even know when or how she did that, but I must admit it's pretty cool.

I look over at Clove as we stride through the darkened trees, and it's strange how she looks almost…at peace. Totally calm. A faint smile is still resting on her lips, eager for the kill she knows she'll get. I don't think I've ever met someone more confident.

"How do you think Lover Boy is even alive?" She finally asks me.

I shrug. "I thought he was with Katniss. He must've gotten medicine or something." Now that she brings this up, I'm curious. How the hell _is_ he still alive? I cut him deep in the leg. They must have some damn good sponsors.

When I think we're both going to fall over from exhaustion, I tell Clove she can fall asleep first. Normally if you offer to do something for Clove, she refuses just to spite you, but she actually agreed.

Unfortunately, I fell asleep, too. But _fortunately_, we woke up in the morning unharmed. Clove wasted no time getting up and hunting, but within minutes I'm soaked with sweat. It's unbelievably hot, and we're both drinking more than we should, but it's not like we can help it. There are sometimes days like this in District 2 during the summer, and those are the days where I sit home and do nothing. I hate hot weather. I voice this opinion out loud.

Clove nods. "I hate sunny days." She says. "I love rainy days, though."

"They say evil doesn't like the light." I smirk.

She rolls her eyes and punches me playfully in the shoulder, but then we just keep walking. And walking, and walking.

We hunt all day and then all the next day, finding no one. Its strange how incredibly empty the arena feels. At night, though, it gets so freezing that Clove agreed to lay right next to me, seeing as though we only have one thin blanket. The rest were destroyed in the bombing.

Clove's offered to take first watch tonight, and when I'm almost asleep I hear trumpets. Again? I feel Clove stiffen even more next to me (she's not all that happy with the sleeping arrangements) and I sit up. Claudius Templesmith's voice comes once again.

"Hello, tributes! And you may have guessed it—we will be holding a feast!" A feast. We could use one of those. Clove looks up at the sky, intrigued. "Now hold on. Some of you may already be declining my invitation. But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately."

Actually, we need a lot of things desperately. But whatever.

"Each of you will find something in a backpack, marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this may be your last chance."

And then there's silence.

"…We going?" I ask.

"Hell yes!" Clove jumps up, rubbing her arms to try and protect herself from the cold. "Let's move more out of sight—the rest of them will see us."

So we move out of sight, shielded by the trees. Clove tells me the whole plan—she'll wake me up earlier than usual and then I'll wake her up a little before dawn, so we each get the same amount of sleep so we're ready. I agree to this, and again, when I'm almost asleep, she speaks.

"Cato?"

"_What_?" I moan.

"Do you think…" she sighs. "Do you think you could let me get Katniss?"

I sit up. Woah now. "What?" I say again.

"Come on, please? I promise I'll make it great. As slow and painful as possible." Her hand tightens around the knife she holds and her fingers twitch a little, as if she just can't wait to get her hands on Katniss. "_Please_?" She whispers.

I sigh. I really do trust that she'll make it a good show…but I want it bad, too. But now that I'm thinking about it, Clove has more control when she kills. She's better at torturing—I'm just too impatient to drag it on that long. So, grudgingly, I say fine, but I get to have Peeta.

She smiles brightly. "Thank you so much!" she says, as if I just gave her a million dollars.

She owes me big time.


	11. The Feast

**Finally it's the feast! This chapter was fun to write. :D Just a reminder: I'm having Cato and Clove win in this fanfic, so…ya. **

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**Clove**

It's finally morning. The night seemed to go on forever, even though I got less than half the sleep I usually get. But now the time has come, it's minutes to dawn, and I'm kneeling behind a thicket of bushes at the edge of the forest, freezing my ass off.

But it will all be worth it.

"I'm gonna go." Cato says, his breath making puffs in the air.

I nod. "See you in a bit."

"Call for help if you need it."

I smirk. "I won't."

He smirks back, and then gets up and silently walks further into the forest. His job is to look for Peeta, Thresh, or anyone else who might come. I don't even know if Katniss will have the guts to show up, but she must need something to keep Lover Boy going. I honestly have no idea how he's still alive.

A movement catches my eye. I turn my attention to the cornucopia, where a sleek, clear table is clicking into place. Less than a second after the table is up, the fox-faced girl from District 5 darts out from the inside of the Cornucopia, grabs her backpack, and is gone. I'm so shocked I don't even think to pursue her, which I'm guessing is the exact effect she wanted. I can't believe that just happened.

Oh! Wait, wait. Here she is. Our little friend Katniss. I waste no time. I get up so fast it makes my frozen legs ache, but I keep running and they thaw out instantly. I whip one of the knives I had in my right hand at Katniss, but she blocks it with her bow. Damn. I'm about to throw again when she turns and shoots at me. I feel a spike of pain in my left shoulder.

_Ow._ I pull the arrow out, looking at the wound. It's not bad. Just a little blood.

But wait.

How is she so good with that bow? If I hadn't turned, that arrow would've hit me right in the heart. Jesus, where did she learn that?

Katniss is running. She's at the table now, and she grabs the backpack and yanks it up on her arm. She's about to turn and shoot again but I beat her to it. I send my second knife whistling through the air, and it catches her in the forehead. Blood immediately spills out of the wound, gushing down her face, and she stumbles backward. I cheer silently to myself. _Yes! _I've _so_ got her.

I sprint full force at her, slamming into her. She falls to the ground and I position myself on top of her so that she won't be able to get up. I make myself comfortable by putting my knees on her shoulders and pressing the tips of my shoes into her hands, just in case she tries to get defiant.

She looks up at me, and I can tell she's trying to hide her panic. A smile spreads across my face. This is possibly the best moment of my entire life right here. Kodak moment!

"Where's your boyfriend, District Twelve?" I ask tauntingly. "Still hangin' on?"

It takes her a second to answer. "He's out there now, hunting Cato." She snarls. Then she screams louder than I've ever heard anyone scream, "Peeta!"

My eyes widen and I shove my fist into her throat. There's no way she's serious. She coughs and struggles to breathe. She can't possibly serious, could she? Lover Boy is, like, disabled. I look around quickly, just to make sure, but the trees stay as still as ever.

I turn back to her, smiling. "Liar. He's nearly dead. Cato knows where he cut him. You've probably got him strapped up in some tree while you try to keep his heart going. What's in the pretty little backpack? The medicine for Lover Boy?" I ask harmlessly, gesturing to the miniscule orange pack that's on her upper arm. "Too bad he'll never get it." I grin.

I open my jacket and watch Katniss's expression mold into one of horror, only making my smile greater. This is going to be so much fun. I run my fingers along the knives, thinking which one I should use. I decide on the one with a short, curved blade, one I haven't gotten to use yet. I slide it out and twirl it between my fingers.

"I promised Cato if he let me have you," I say, examining the knife's blade, "I'd give the audience a good show." I turn my attention from the knife to her face and I grin. She starts really struggling then, wriggling around and trying to get me off.

"Forget it, District Twelve." I say plainly, glaring at her. "We're going to kill you." Then I think of something. "Just like we did your pathetic little ally…what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue?" I tilt my head and watch her reaction—a look of deep pain washes over her face and I can tell I've hit a sensitive topic. I smile and say with mock gentleness, "Well, first Rue, then you, and I think we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy." I smile. "How does that sound?"

She, of course, doesn't respond.

My face breaks into yet another grin. I haven't smiled this much in ages. "Now, where to start?" I take the dirtiest part of my sleeve and wipe the blood from Katniss's face—hard. She winces. Then I take her chin in my hand and tilt her head from side to side, observing. Where should I start? Her cheek bones are hollow and her gray eyes are defeated. Then she tries to bite my hand, but I quickly grab the hair on the top of her head and yank it back to the ground.

I breath a little laugh. "Nice try." She glares at me, and I just keep smiling. "I think…" I purr, my gaze zeroing in on her lips. "I think we'll start with your mouth." Her jaw clenches as I trace her lips with the tip of the blade.

I laugh as she glares at me full-force. "Yes, I don't think you'll have much use for your lips anymore. Want to blow Lover Boy one last kiss…?" I ask, smiling triumphantly.

But then she spits a huge wad of spit and blood into my face. _GROSS!_ Bitch! My face twists with disgust and I wipe the saliva off with my sleeve. "Alright then." I hiss. "Let's get started."

Now that she's angered me, I have to remind myself to do this slowly. There's nothing fun about a quick little death. Lots of blood is wonderful…

I've just pressed my knife to her lips when I'm yanked backward with such force I don't even realize it's happening until I'm flung to the ground, hard. I gasp uselessly on the ground, trying to regain the air that's been knocked out of my lungs. I look up, and in the rising morning sun, I see the huge, dark frame. Thresh. I haven't seen him since the very first day of the games. He looks very well off, like he just ate a cow with a pig for desert. Jeez, he's _huge_!

Katniss is still laying on the ground, looking stupid and dumb-founded, and I realize that, unfortunately, that's probably what I look like, too. Then Thresh yells, and it makes me jump. "What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?" His face is so angry and his voice so loud and powerful, it takes me a moment to gather myself and answer.

"No! No, it wasn't me!" I say helplessly, hating how weak I sound. But I can't help it. For the first time since entering the Games, I'm truly terrified.

"You said her name. I heard you. You kill her?" a wave of fury washes across his chiseled features. "You cut her up like you were going to cut up this girl here?"

"No! No, I—" I then see the huge rock he's holding in his right hand. It looks like a small boulder, but he holds it as if it's nothing more than a pebble. I can't help myself, and I lose it. I promised myself that I wouldn't call for help, no matter what. But I just can't stand it. I feel so weak, so helpless. "Cato!" I screech. "Cato!"

"Clove!" I hear Cato's answering shout, but he's so far away, I can tell. Why did he have to go so far?

Then, I see Thresh raise his large arm and bring the rock down right where I lay. I roll out of the way at the very last second, but the rock comes down hard on my left arm. I yelp out in pain. That's all I can feel right now, the horrible pain in my upper left arm.

"Clove!" I hear Cato again, closer this time. Thank God. His tone is filled with worry, and a little bit of anger when he sees me on the ground.

I look up at Thresh, who has turned away from me to see Cato running towards him. I need to get up. Come on, Clove, get up. But there's no way I'll be able to move this arm. At least it was my left. I sit up painfully and look for something I could use to hold my arm still. I have a strap on my leg that I use to hold knives. I pull it up so that it holds my left arm tightly against my body. Every bone in my arm is screaming out, begging me to stop, but I have to help Cato. I pull myself off the ground and take two knives out of my coat.

Cato is taking stabs at Thresh, and I see that he cut him in the leg. Thresh has his back to me. Since I'm too weak to do anything fancier, I hurl a knife straight into his back. He turns around, his strange golden-brown eyes widened, and then drops to his knees. Cato and I both move cautiously toward him.

"You…." He chokes out, looking at me. "You will die. Fire Girl—she will kill you. And you will go straight to hell." He looks at Cato, then. "Both of you." He pauses to cough up blood. "You horrible…" his cannon fires. And then he's gone.

.

**Cato**

I look up at Clove after a minute. Her eyes are still widened and her mouth partially open, staring at Thresh's now dead body. I wince when I see her arm, which is strapped poorly to her torso. It's already covered with nasty purple bruises.

She sighs, and it actually looks as if she's holding back tears. "Well, damn." She mutters, and then turns and starts walking toward the lake. I quickly grab our pack and follow, saying nothing. Unfortunately, Thresh had his pack on when the hovercraft took him up and I hadn't thought to grab it.

Katniss, of course, is gone. I don't blame Clove. She would have given the audience a good show, I know it.

Clove sits cross-legged at the edge of the lake, and puts her head in her right hand, since she can't move her left arm. "Shit." She curses under her breath. "Shit, shit, shit, shit. I can't believe that just happened."

I stand a few feet behind her, not really sure what to do. She turns around after a long minute, wincing from the movement. "I'm so sorry." She whispers.

"W-why?" I finally stutter out.

She breaths a laugh. "Why? I just lost my chance to kill Katniss. I almost died. And I probably just lost us a crapload of sponsors." She shakes her head, turning back to the lake.

After a minute, I decide to go sit next to her. "Well, think of it this way. Thresh is gone. All we have to do is find that red-headed girl—the only thing she's good at is running away. If we catch her, she'd be easy to kill. And then there's just the lovebirds. We've got this in the bag, Clove. It doesn't even matter if we don't have sponsors. We'll be out of here in like, two days, tops." I punch her right shoulder lightly. "And you just killed the big bad Thresh all by yourself."

Clove smiles weakly. "I guess. I just can't believe I messed this up."

Just then, a parachute drops on top of Clove's head, then slides down and hits her left shoulder.

"Ow!" she looks up at the sky. "Really? Can't you aim these better?"

I reach behind her and open the small metal tin. Inside of it is a big roll of clean white gauze and a long, plastic package.

"What's in the package? Clove asks, poking it with her finger. I open it up and Clove gasps.

"Holy shit." I mutter.

Clove reaches in and holds up the long silver needle, all filled and ready to go.

"I guess you didn't lose all our sponsors after all." I grin. This must've cost a fortune. Morphling is one of the most expensive items right at the beginning of the Games. I can't imagine how much this cost. But I'm not super shocked; District 2 usually gets a lot of the rich sponsors from the capitol.

I shoot some of the Morphling into Clove's veins and then we wrap it up in the gauze. "Better?" I ask.

"Much." Then she reaches for our pack, unzipping it. Inside isn't just one thing. First she pulls out a box of crackers and some packs of instant meals and beef, and then her face just lights up. Like someone flipped a switch inside of her. Her expression softens.

"Oh, Cato!" she breaths. "Look at this!" she takes out a large pocket knife. She looks like a little kid on Christmas morning. I, on the other hand, don't get it.

"So?" I shrug. "It's just a knife."

She looks up at me in disbelief and shakes her head. "No! This is not _just_ a knife." She holds up the knife, which I now see has buttons all up and down the side. "This." She shows the knife as if she's selling it on one of those boring TV shows, "is every girl's best friend."

I clear my throat. "You mean _your _best friend? I thought diamonds were a girls best friend."

She shrugs. "Yeah, whatever. But look!" her face lights up again. She presses the first button, and the nicest blade I've ever seen flips out. It's gold. And I'm pretty sure it's made of gold, too. Then she presses the second one, and the first blade goes in and is replaced by another one slightly shorter, and then again, and then again…

"It's just so much easier than carrying a bunch of knives around! I mean, of course I'll still use my other knives, but this is the best." She babbles on about how one of the blades doesn't just cut, it burns when it touches you, and how when you use it you hold down the button so that only the knife that's out throws and you can still have the rest, and on and on. Then I realize, this is the first time I've seen Clove act like a regular girl.

She wants to go test it right away, trying to get the feel of it. I peer inside the pack and see a small cylinder lying at the bottom. I take it out and press the button in the center, and the top of the cylinder opens and a golden spear pops out, sharp and perfect. Inscribed in the gold is **District 2**, and I realize Clove has it inscribed on each of her blades, too. "Sweet." I say, and go to test my new weapon out with Clove.

These must be the weapons we need to beat Katniss. Maybe she's a little better than we thought….

* * *

**Yay! Okay, at the end I decided to let Cato and Clove have a little fun. ****I don't know why that just popped into my head, but I guess I subconsciously felt bad for them. :D hope you liked it!**


	12. Only Two

**Clove**

It's two days after the feast. It's so unbelievably cold and so unbelievably rainy.

Soon after the feast it started pouring. Not just pouring, but like, hurricane. A torrential downpour. I don't know if I've ever seen it rain so hard.

We had to move into this little cave thing we found in the woods, because it's raining so hard we can barley even open our eyes without getting blinded or our mouths without drowning. Also, the cold. I'm so, _so _glad that we have that one sleeping bag, even though I have to be in such close proximity to Cato. I probably would've resulted to it anyway, because it's so freezing.

Right now it's my turn to watch. I'm sitting on the opposite end of the cave from where Cato is. My knees are tucked up to my chin and I'm shivering so bad my teeth are chatting, but I'm trying to ignore it.

"Clove." I turn my head towards Cato. I didn't know he was awake. "Come over here."

"No, it's my turn to watch. You sleep."

"I can't. Your teeth chattering is keeping me up." He pats the sleeping bag next to him. "Come on." He says, like he's calling a dog.

I sigh and scowl, but scoot over and into the sleeping bag, careful with my broken arm. I have to admit, it's much warmer. But it makes me so tired.

"You know, you could probably just sleep." He says. "Who's gonna come after us? Lover Boy can't be better yet. He just got his medicine or whatever today. And it's not like that red head is gonna come after us."

I guess he's right. I can't believe there's so few of us left. But I shake my head. "I don't wanna risk it."

"Whatever. Your loss." He says, and then gets quiet. Minutes later his breathing is deep and even. How does he fall asleep so fast? Well, I guess I could fall asleep, too…

I didn't even feel myself fall asleep, but I guess I did. When I wake up it's actually sunny. Yes, _sunny_. And I'm sweltering in this bag. I kick it off of me, just then realizing I'm alone. I sit up and then walk outside and see Cato sitting by the river, eating a cracker with some kind of weird topping on it.

"I don't wanna risk it!" he impersonates me badly, making his voice too high and scrunching up his face. I roll my eyes and hit his shoulder.

"Whatever. I was tired."

"I told you to just go to bed."

"And I did." I stick my tongue out at him and he laughs.

"So, are we gonna kill some District Twelve today?" he asks as I fish a cracker out of the box and put some of the spread on it. Mmmm.

"Oh yeah!" I stand up. "Now that you mention it. Let's go!"

Cato grimaces. "Right now?"

"Yup. Right now. Come on, we're burnin' daylight."

"You're certainly in a good mood."

"I just want to get _out _of here!"

"Me too. Help me pack up the stuff." I go inside the cave and put the sleeping bag in Cato's backpack—he needs to carry a little extra weight around here, I'm crippled! And then go out and drop it on the ground.

"Alright. I'm ready."

"Me too, almost."

I turn around to see where we should head first when I see it. A breeze blows by and there's a flicker of red behind a large tree. Adrenaline shoots through me, and I grab two knives and run.

She saw me though, and now she's running, too. Damn, she's fast.

"Clove?" Cato calls. But I don't stop. I'm running my fastest, leaping over leaves and tree branches. The way the girl slips through the forest, she's like a fox.

If only she would stop zigzagging, I could throw a knife at her back. But she won't stop moving. I run a little faster, because it's so close. If I can just kill her, we can hunt down Twelve. They're all that's left.

I take a risk and throw one of my knives. I'm using my regular ones—the new ones I got at the feast can only be used once each and I intend to use them on a certain person from District Twelve. I have it in my pocket, though.

The knife skims her arm, taking off a chunk of skin. I wince, but keep running. Gross! Blood is now flying off of her arm because we're running so fast. I throw the second knife I have in my hand at her calf. It's a long shot because she's moving, but if it gets there, it will damage the tendon and she won't be able to stand.

Wait for it…yes! He right leg gives out and she collapses to the ground, my second knife sticking out of her leg. I run over to where she lies and place a foot on her chest, just in case she tries to get away. I pull my knife out of her leg and slash the other one as well, just to make sure. Now she _really _can't get away.

She's smiling at me, though. Why is she smiling? She's about to die. Jeesh, these people get stupider by the district, I swear it.

I scowl down at her. "What are you so happy about?"

She winces slightly when I speak, but keeps smiling. I step off her chest, and I feel something underneath my shoe.

I look down and see a thin wire resting over the toe of my boot, in a neat circle around the rest of my foot.

Crap.

I fly upward as the trap kicks in. The rope closes around my right foot and I'm upside down. The girl cracks up.

"Oh shut up, bitch!" I call down to her. "You're gonna die anyway!"

She stops snickering.

I'm debating weather to throw a knife at her from here (Wow, Clove! You can hit a target from upside down? Why yes, yes I can) or just to leave her for Cato when Cato himself bursts through the trees. He looks at the girl on the ground, who looks like she's now in a great deal of pain, at the blood on the back of her legs, and then the girl points up. Cato looks in the direction he's pointing.

"Uh…hey."

"What the hell?"

"…How's it…hangin'?" Ok, I know it's unprofessional, but I just couldn't help myself, even though I'm kind of the butt of the joke. I start laughing. I mean come on, you have to admit that was a good one.

Cato rolls his eyes. "May I?"

I look up, well, down I guess (*snicker snicker*), pondering the thought. Then I shrug. "Whatever."

Cato stabs his spear through her heart, and her cannon fires. I pull myself up into a sort of sitting position, at least so I'm facing upwards, and try to get the rope loose. No use. I'm gonna have to cut it. "Catch me?" I ask sarcastically.

Cato snorts. "Not on your life, sport."

I sigh, brace myself, and slash my knife against the rope. The drop isn't too far and I manage to land on my feet.

"Nicely done." Cato congratulates me.

"Thank you."

He laughs and we continue on, in search of some District Twelve. Now that I killed that girl, I really want to make a better kill, because let's face it, that was kind of a fail. It wasn't my fault, though—it could've been really cool if it weren't for the stupid trap.

"I think that was probably the best kill of the Games." Cato says after a few minutes.

I smile and punch him. "Whatever! It would've been. Well, until Katniss's death." I say, an evil smile resting on my face.

"About that." Cato says. "Listen…since you already got her…could I kill her, do you think?"

I frown, not too fond of the idea. "I don't know. How about this. Whoever sees her first gets her."

Cato shrugs. "Alright, fair enough."

"And we _will_ get them."

Cato grins. "Hell yeah!"

**Ok…I apologize for this kind of suckish chapter. It's pretty random and not very serious, but I wasn't in a serious mood when I wrote this so…that's what you get. :P**


	13. So Close

**This is gonna be a long author's note. **

**Ok, first of all, I would like to apologize for the terribleness of the last chapter. I've made it a rule (for your benefit) that I will not write past 11:30 at night, because that time and after I seem to think everything is much more hilarious than it actually is. Like the "hows it hangin" line? I laughed for like five minutes over that, so hard I could barely breathe. So anyway, to make up for my bad humor, I'm going to **_**try **_**to make this chapter a little deep. ;) **

**This chapter is so short because I'm just trying to wrap it up. The next chapter will be the longer because it will most likely be the last. **** Please please review and tell me if you want a sequel at the end! **

**Well anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! **

**Clove**

It's been a few hours since we killed that girl, it's dark out now. I'm starting to feel a little regret for that kill…if we weren't so close to the end we probably would have lost some sponsors. I need to be more careful.

It's night time out, and even though it was unbearably hot during the day, it's freezing. I think this is the coldest it's been. But I still refuse to stop and rest, no matter how cold it is. We're so close to the end that I can almost close my eyes and pretend no one else is in this arena but me and Cato.

I'm so cold that I have to continually look down to make sure I haven't dropped my knife; I lost the feeling in my fingers a long time ago. My walking is almost mechanical, anything to keep the cold from getting in any more than it already has. But Cato is just as tough as me so we keep going.

It's not until I'm so tired and so cold that I think I might collapse when I see it.

We're walking along a creek, the ground around it littered with large boulders and

rocks. And along some of the rocks, so faint you can barely see it, is red. Blood.

"Cato." I whisper, gripping his arm, bringing us both to a stop. I turn to look at him, and it looks as if he's sleep walking. But I pretend I don't notice his fatigue and run my finger along the dried blood.

"Look at this. Think it was from one of them?"

Cato rubs one of his eyes and leans forward, squinting at the rock. "I don't see anything."

I roll my eyes and shove his face up to it.

"Oh." He says, and then just stays there.

I sigh. "Cato! This is serious, they could be close by."

"Where are they gonna be, Clove? Hiding behind a rock?"

"Maybe."

Cato rolls his eyes. "Listen. Why don't we camp close by here, and keep someone on watch, and then see if they come out?"

"Cato," I sigh, fighting to keep the whine out of my tone, "I'm as tired as you, okay? But I just want this to be over. I need to know that they're dead. I need to kill them. And then we won't have to be tired ever again if we don't want to, because we're victors. Okay? So please, just _look_ with me."

Cato thinks about this for a minute, mulling it over. "I guess." He says finally, and then we keep walking. There are large clumps of boulders, then small clumps, and it's hard to see straight because I'm so tired. Cato's idea is sounding better and better. But I just made a whole speech…

After about ten more minutes of searching, I give in. Normally Cato wouldn't want to stop either, but we're both so exhausted we can't help it. We fall into a random space that's kind of concealed by rocks and I pull out the sleeping bag and clumsily lay it over us. Before I know it we're both asleep…

**Cato**

When I wake up, the sun is just rising. Or is it setting? No, rising. Clove is still asleep beside me, her breathing deep and even. I was so tired last night, why didn't I sleep longer? I decide to get up and walk around.

It's not as cold as it was last night, but the air is still cool enough to send a shiver down my spine. I grip my sword tightly in my right hand, looking around at my surroundings. There's no evidence that anyone ever stayed here. I walk down to the river by where Clove pointed to the rock with the blood. I trudge over to the creek and sure enough, there's a washed away blood stain across a few rocks, like someone dipped their hands in red paint and ran it across the rocks. It looks like someone tried to wash it away.

I sigh, my breath making a cloud in the air. I want them dead. How is it just my luck that the one year I go for the Games, the last two who are left with me are from District _Twelve_? It's just not right. District Twelve is here for two reasons: to give us all coal, and to give us something to laugh at every year. I just can't wait to get home. It's been fun, killing and crap, but I'm definitely ready to get out of here.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Ready?" Clove whispers from behind me. She has our pack slung across her shoulder. She ducks her head into her arm and coughs as quietly as she can; she's been feeling sick lately.

I nod. We start walking in the other direction, back towards the forest. But for some reason, it feels…wrong. I have this weird feeling, like they're right under our noses and we don't even know it.

I shrug it off. They'll be dead by tomorrow anyway.

**So incredibly short, I know! I'm sorry. **** They were in the same area that Katniss and Peeta were sleeping in…hehehehe. xD I know it's unrealistic, but whatever. **


	14. The Victors

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update, I've just been busy! Well anyway, this is the very last chapter! **** Thanks to all of you **_**so**_** much who have read, reviewed, and favorited my very first fanfiction! I love you guys! **

**Just a warning: this chapter will probably be very different from what happened in the book…obviously. **

**Oh, and P.S. : The end scene was a little grotesque. Sorry bout that. ;)**

**I might make another story about their lives after the Games, but only if you want it! Please tell me if you do! Merry Christmas and thank you all again! **

**Clove**

We started walking at what must have been the butt crack of dawn, but we're just now getting close to the Cornucopia and it's late afternoon. We weren't planning on heading straight there, but we kind of got the hint around noon when all the lakes dried up. Thank God we had some water in our canteens left, but by now they're bone dry and I just want to get to the lake and drink.

"We're getting out of here today, Clove." Cato says to me for the millionth time. I cough and nod feebly. I haven't been feeling so hot the past few days, but now I'm starting to feel pretty sick. But I just think of the horrible end Katniss and Peeta will have and I feel remarkably better.

Anyway, Cato's been giving these mini pep-talks every now and then throughout the day, and I'm pretty sure he's talking to himself more than he is to me. But I just ignore it. I don't need any pep-talks, I'm killing these bastards and then going home. Simple as that.

Finally we see the glint of sun on the Cornucopia in the not-so-far distance. Cato just about barrels through but I but a hand in front of him to stop. "What?" he asks me.

"Wait. We have to see if they're there yet."

I tip-toe quietly to an opening in the trees. Sitting next to the lake, drinking out of canteens, are Katniss and Peeta. I smile to myself and turn around to Cato. When he sees my smile, he smiles, too.

"Ready to kick some District Twelve ass?" I ask him.

"Oh, I was born ready."

Since I'm always one to make a dramatic entrance, I quietly run a few feet through the trees so I'm closer to them. I then take out one of my dull knives, one I won't need later and one they wouldn't be able to harm us with, and throw it so that it lands right in front of Katniss's feet. She jumps slightly, then her grey eyes widen. She leans over and whispers to Peeta, eyes wide and alert. I watch her gaze sweep over the plain until they finally land on me, looking smug in the trees.

Katniss stands up and grabs her bow, wasting no time in shooting. But I'm so far away from her that I see exactly where it's going and I have time to step away. She keeps the bow to her shoulder, but doesn't fire. I step out, smile still upon my face. As I reach for two knives I realize I don't hear Cato behind me—which is perfect. We have this all planned out—Cato will come out later, possibly at a different place, just to give the illusion I'm alone.

"Hey, Fire Bitch." I grin at her as I walk lazily out onto the plain. I nod to Peeta. "Lover Boy."

Lover Boy stands up at the mention of his name, but he winces, his hand going to his leg, but then he stops. I narrow my eyes and look him over, observing. Then I see the blood-soaked bandage around his thigh.

"Ah, so you really did survive that cut. It's a shame, though; your girlfriend here would probably be better off without you." I'm only saying this to beat down his self-confidence, of course, but I really mean it. Weaponless and wimpy, Katniss would probably have a better chance without that gimp dragging her down. Not that I'm complaining about it.

Katniss doesn't say anything, just keeps her eyes locked on me.

"See what I mean, Peeta? She's not denying it. You're just dead weight to her. You would be dead by now if they didn't make the new rule; she just doesn't want to look like a monster by killing her own district partner. Right, Katniss?"

Katniss's face fills with fury and she shoots another arrow. This time it comes dangerously close to me, but I hold up my knife to block it. Then I look at Katniss, smiling, and prepare to throw my knife. Keeping my eyes on Katniss, I throw the knife, but towards Peeta's foot. It lands right on target and Peeta yelps out in pain.

This was also part of our plan—kill Peeta first to break down Katniss.

Katniss's head whips around to see how badly Peeta is hurt, and that's when I take my chance. I throw my knife at her right shoulder, right where she rests her bow. It hits its target perfectly. Katniss turns to look at me again, hatred in her eyes. Ha-ha. Now she won't be able to rest her bow there without being uncomfortable.

Katniss takes a few steps toward me, but her bow is down so I don't keep my weapon up, either. She stares at me for a moment. "How are you so _cruel_?" she finally asks. Just hearing her voice fills me with disgust. But still, I smile sarcastically back at her.

Behind her, and then behind Peeta, I see Cato sneaking out of the trees. He nods to me. I nod back, and before Katniss even has the chance to turn around I lunge forward and tackle her. I wrap my arms around her tightly from behind, and even though my broken arm is absolutely killing me I ignore it and manage to keep a hold on her while I bring a knife to her throat. I have my left arm wrapped tightly around both of hers, holding her to me, and my right is holding a shiny new knife right up against her throat.

"Come on," I say, shoving my knee into her back to urge her forward, "let's enjoy the show." I smile.

**Cato**

Peeta has now seen me, but he's helpless. So helpless, without any weapons, that he just stands there. Looks like he knew it was coming. "Hey, Lover Boy." I greet him with a grin. You would almost think we were old friends if you didn't see the fear in Peeta's eyes and the pure evil that I knew was in my own. "We warned you that there would be consequences if you left." I said. Then I reached out and slice him on the arm with my sword. Peeta jumps back once, but I just smile.

I reach out and slice him two more times, in the stomach and other arm, these ones a little deeper then the first. Blood starts pouring from Peeta's stomach and it looks like he's refraining from yelling out, probably for Katniss's sake.

"Peeta!" Katniss calls out weakly. I look over and see Katniss thrashing, trying to get out of Clove's grasp, but Clove has a tight lock on her. I've got plenty of time to finish Peeta.

But although I enjoy the sense of power I'm having now, it's bothering me a little that Peeta's reactions aren't as…loud as I'd like. Time to bring out the big guns, I guess. I put my sword into my belt and then take out my spear. With only as much force as it would take to knock down my little sister, I push Peeta to the ground, then place my foot on his chest. I prod him with my spear a few times, and all he does is wince. Doesn't try to fight back at all.

"Come on, Lover Boy." I say to him. "Die with some dignity! For your girlfriend, at least."

Peeta frowns, then takes a deep breath. "Katniss?"

I look over to where Katniss and Clove stand, not too far away. Katniss is now standing still, staring at Peeta, tears in her eyes. "Yes, Peeta?" she asks so quietly I can barely hear her. Clove is staring at the two, looking interested.

"Remember what I said to you on the roof?"

"Of course." Katniss is leaning forward, hanging on Peeta's words like their her life line.

I stab my spear through Peeta's stomach.

Peeta takes a sharp intake of breath and coughs a few times, but he turns to Katniss anyway. "Don't forget what I said. Do what you have to do, but—"

I pull the spear out.

"Don't…lose yourself."

I bring the spear down again in his chest.

Peeta coughs up blood. All around him is blood, blood, blood. Panem's newest to-be-golden boy, a bloody mess under my own boot.

It feels pretty damn good.

His cannon fires.

"NO!" Katniss screams, a gorilla-like, strangled cry. Her teary expression replaced by one of fury. She breaks free of Clove's hold and Clove lets her. Katniss runs to Peeta's side, kneeling next to his lifeless body. Her hands flutter over the wounds, as if she's trying to repair him. But the hovercraft appears. She doesn't let go of him.

Clove is suddenly next to me. "Aw, how sad." She says with fake sympathy. I look to her and smile, and she smiles back. That's when I grip Katniss's shoulders and pull her backward onto the ground. She squints, trying to regain the breath that I just knocked out of her. I drag her a few feet away as the hovercraft comes and brings Peeta's body up into the sky.

Katniss kicks at me but I step away, then look at Clove and gesture to Katniss.

Clove puts a hand on her heart. "Really?"

"Go for it." I say. "All I want is the final stab."

Clove smiles at me and kneels on top of Katniss. "Now. Where were we?"

**Clove**

Katniss stares up at me with fury. I have to admit, that look would be pretty intimidating if I were someone other than myself. I just smile down at her, much like

before. It's already getting dark, I wonder if the Gamemakers are doing it on purpose. I entertain myself and go all out. Not just for the torture of Katniss, but just to spite her and her sister, who thought they could steal the show with their family love and crap. I also did it for Cato, for Patch, for everyone back home. For Puck—he'll be so proud of me when I get back. And even for my parents, I know that if they're watching me, they'll be proud, too.

I make designs on her arms, on her face. Swirls and stripes and everything I can think of. I cut flames on her stomach. Ha-ha, I'm so clever. Cato sits about two feet away, watching me intently.

By the time I'm done, Katniss is too cut up to talk. It's dark, night has fallen, and cold. But I had barely noticed the cold. I finally stand up and brush myself off.

"Your turn." I tell Cato.

Cato laughs. "'Bout time!" he crosses over to Katniss and looks at her for a little bit, his spear raised. Then he whispers something, so quietly I can barely hear, "Katniss, the Girl on Fire." He stares right into Katniss's eyes for what seems like forever. Then, he drops his spear.

_What is he doing_?

"Clove, let me see your knife. The new one."

I frown, but take out the golden knife, which I never got to use. I hand it to him, perplexed.

"We've already made this one of the best shows in history," Cato says, "why not make it better?"

He smirks at me as he presses the button that triggers the flame thrower.

All of a sudden Katniss's body bursts into flames, stunning orange and yellow flames that dance into the darkened sky. I smile to myself. The Gamemakers will have a hard time collecting her body.

"All hail Katniss, the girl who was on fire!" I shout mockingly into the sky, and just after I do her cannon fires.

The sound of trumpets fills the air. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet your Victors of the seventy-forth annual Hunger Games, Cato and Clove from District Two!" Ceaser Flickerman's voice booms out from the sky. "Congratulations!"

I smile at Cato and he smiles at me, and then I step forward and throw my arms around him.

"We did it." He says in my ear.

But I just smirk and say, "Told you I would win."

Cato laughs and we turn to the hovercraft that has now landed on the plain. As we step onto the ladder, I look around the arena one more time. But this time it doesn't look horrible and challenging, it looks like…a peaceful place. With a bonfire. Maybe it's because I'm looking at it for the first time as a victor.

I am the victor of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games.

Take that, District Twelve.


	15. SEQUEL!

**Hey everyone! Thanks again for reading and reviewing The Hunger Games District 2! I just wanted to let you all know that I finally put the sequel up! It's called "THG District 2: Life After the Games". Please read and review, I want to get this story off to a good start so I know whether I should continue it or not. Thanks so much for all my great subscribers, favoriters, and especially my reviewers! :D**


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